Volume 7, Issue 7 | December 18, 2003
1225 8th Street, Suite 590,
Sacramento, CA 95814
Ph: (916) 448-6762
Fax: (916) 448-6774
Sacramento, CA 95814
Ph: (916) 448-6762
Fax: (916) 448-6774
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California Update Volume 7, Issue 7 | December 18, 2003 |
1225 8th Street, Suite 590,
Sacramento, CA 95814 Ph: (916) 448-6762 Fax: (916) 448-6774 |
CIWC Home > CIWC's Newsletter > Dec. 18, 2003
Legislature Repeals Driver's License Access Law (SB 60)
Immigrants and their advocates in California saw their greatest legislative victory of 2003 reversed when, earlier this month, the California Assembly followed the Senate in voting to repeal SB 60, a measure that would have allowed all California motorists, regardless of immigration status, to obtain a state driver’s license. Fulfilling a campaign promise, on December 3 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill repealing the new law and praised legislators for their swift, bipartisan passage of the measure. SB 60 was overturned by legislators following negotiations between Sen. Gil Cedillo, the author of SB 60, and the governor, who promised to revisit the driver’s license issue in January 2004 and to “take a fresh look” at a new version of the bill.SB 60, which was signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis in September, was the culmination of more than five years of work by legislators, advocates and others to make driver’s licenses available to an estimated two million immigrants in California who, for the past ten years, have been barred from obtaining licenses because of their immigration status. The measure received wide support from community-based organizations, unions, civil rights groups, churches and even representatives of the insurance industry and law enforcement.
“We’re greatly disappointed by the news,” said Art Placencia, President of the Latin American Law Enforcement Association (LaLey). “California is not any safer by having unlicensed and uninsured drivers on the road. The repeal of SB 60 will not stave off immigration, nor will it keep people from owning or driving a car. Instead, it will prevent immigrants from being tested and insured, and interfere with law enforcement’s ability to do our jobs more easily with drivers’ names, addresses, and fingerprints on file.”
Advocates hope to be able to work with Sen. Cedillo and the governor’s office to craft new legislation that will provide access to driver’s licenses for all California residents while responding to some of the concerns raised by opponents of SB 60. Community leaders, while lamenting the loss of SB 60, have called for a new spirit of cooperation in the new year. According to Stewart Kwoh, executive director of the Los Angeles–based Asian Pacific American Legal Center, “The reversal of the driver’s license law represents another sad chapter for California. I am deeply disappointed that we have not come to terms with our history and present-day reality as a nation of immigrants. As Californians, we have so much at stake right now, with multi-billion dollar deficits and potentially severe budget cuts in health and other services for working-poor families. We need to put aside divisive politics that vilify immigrant communities and embrace policies that benefit all of us. Our future is inextricably tied to one another. The only way for this great state to move forward is together.
Governor Targets Immigrant Programs in Proposed Mid-Year Budget Cuts
After promising during his electoral campaign that as governor he would protect children and the poor while weeding out fraud and excess, Gov. Schwarzenegger has proposed sweeping cuts to health care and essential services for children, seniors, and people with disabilities. The governor’s proposal would eliminate or freeze enrollment in critical programs for low-income families, including health, nutrition and human services programs for immigrants.
The governor’s mid-year budget proposal includes the following measures, many of which specifically target immigrants:
A cap on enrollment into the Healthy Families Program. Under the proposal, beginning Jan. 1, 2004, children (including “qualified” immigrant children) would be placed on a waiting list for health care coverage. A similar freeze in Florida, instituted on July 1, 2003 (when California finance director Donna Arduin was Florida’s budget director), produced a waiting list of 42,000 children in less than six months, according to the Florida KidCare Coordinating Council. An additional 27,000 immigrant children were wait-listed for health care coverage in Florida.
A cap on enrollment into the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) and the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI). These programs provide food to immigrant families and critical cash aid to immigrant seniors and immigrants with disabilities.
A cap on enrollment into Medi-Cal nonemergency services for “qualified” and “not-qualified” immigrants. These services include preventive care for families, seniors and persons with disabilities, prenatal care for pregnant women, long-term care and access to the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment program for women, regardless of immigration status. The freeze on enrollment would act as an effective bar to prenatal and long-term care services for immigrants.
A 5 percent reduction in CalWORKs grants, a freeze on enrollment of certain “qualified” immigrants into the CalWORKs program, and the elimination of transitional food stamps for those timing off CalWORKs. In addition, the governor proposes to repeal AB 231, which would allow low-income people to get food stamps even if they own a working automobile and, in special cases, to be exempt from face-to-face interviews.
The elimination of the residual In-Home Supportive Services Program (IHSS). This program facilitates the provision of critical services for persons with severe disabilities.
Other essential programs serving children and adults with disabilities were targeted or “capped” in the governor’s proposal, including the state-funded California Children’s Services (CSS) program, the Genetically Handicapped Persons Program (GHPP), the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), rehabilitation programs, and Regional Center services. The legislature will also consider the governor’s proposal to put on the March ballot a $15 billion bond measure and the authorizing of further spending caps.
CIWC is collecting stories from health care providers and advocates to gear up to defend vital safety-net programs.
If you are aware of personal stories that illustrate the potential impact of these proposed cuts, please contact a CIWC partner agency in one of the following areas:
Northern California:
• Jeannette Zanipatin | 916-448-6762 x. 202;
• Isabel Alegria | 510-663-8282 x. 302; or
• Cary Sanders | 408-286-5680 x. 102
Southern California:
• Veronika Geronimo | 213-977-7500 x. 271; or
• Suzana Trevino | 213-353-1782